Progress

[Tichy]

If there was a single standard engine style across the entire game+OXPs then I could probably do something with it, but with the variety that's out there, a trail-style exhaust is much more practical.

Why not having more than one type of exhaust, with the trail style as the default, and the others available for the OXPs?

(And a vapour trail for my flying teapot? )

[Diziet Sma]

3 or 4 types ought to cover most of the ships out there, I'm thinking..

[cim]

Submersible has provided new and considerably improved laser and exhaust textures, which are now in trunk.


Their exhaust texture is so good, it even works on the aft view!

[Tichy]

Submersible has provided new and considerably improved laser and exhaust textures, which are now in trunk.
Their exhaust texture is so good, it even works on the aft view!

Impressive!! O_O

[Shipbuilder]

The new exhausts are a great improvement.

[Thargoid]

They look very nice for a fast ship moving along, but for a slow ship or for one which isn't going so fast they look a little odd (very distinctive and thin * shape but with 8 "arms"). For example spawn one of my HammerHeads and inspect the exhausts).

I may need to work on the HammerHead exhaust positioning a bit if it stays in, but even on a small ship going at a low speed it looks a bit odd.

[Commander McLane]

They look very nice for a fast ship moving along, but for a slow ship or for one which isn't going so fast they look a little odd (very distinctive and thin * shape but with 8 "arms"). For example spawn one of my HammerHeads and inspect the exhausts).

The test case for a slow ship would be the Generation Ship. Also, a test case for huge diameters.

[Thargoid]

Indeed. I've tweaked the Hammerhead and it looks OK now (as the HH engine shape actually matches the exhaust shape now, by fluke). That and adjusting the shipdata entry to make the jets as long as possible. There it now looks acceptable I think.

However on a Generation ship there is basically no exhaust at all, just a blue star-shape made of thin blue lines. It looks very strange - you can't even see it at all until you get up close then it is a bit weird, see below.

Overall I like the new texture, but the shaping of the exhaust trail now is showing up deficiencies for some ships.



For reference, same under 1.76.1

[cim]

Try r5545 - I've put a backing layer back in.

The texture looks a little grainy on an exhaust as big as a generation ship's, but that's probably unavoidable.

[Thargoid]

It looks better on the Gen Ship, although there is a weird interaction between the backing and the jet which makes it look like a swirly time-tunnel from some angles. But it's an improvement, and for me preferential to where we were with 1.76.1.

Looks OK on the HammerHead too, although I will need to adjust the widths (again) as it now leaks out the side of the model exhaust ducting as I'd doubled the number of jets before and split them.

[Cody]

The new drive flares are looking good here... even the one-eyed Lord Effingham approves!

[Diziet Sma]

Agreed.. and after years of hearing "Nope, lasers and plumes simply can't be improved.." it's very pleasant indeed..

(yes, I know it probably took a lot of groundwork being laid over the years to make it possible.. )

[JensAyton]

Agreed.. and after years of hearing "Nope, lasers and plumes simply can't be improved.."

Eh? Citation needed.

[Diziet Sma]

Ok.. I may be wrong, I often am.. and I'm not about to go looking now (gone 2.30am and I'm gonna go crash out) but I'm sure I recall many times requests were made to improve lasers and/or plumes and the answer was always 'no' or 'no can do'.

[Disembodied]

The test case for a slow ship would be the Generation Ship. Also, a test case for huge diameters.

It's arguable that Generation Ships shouldn't have any engine flares at all. I've always imagined them as being accelerated up to a cruising speed of some percentage of c, using reaction-mass engines, and if they can travel under constant acceleration then they wouldn't really be Generation Ships. They'd have some sort of rocket flare as they decelerated (over a long period of time) towards their destination, I suppose, but they'd probably also have an enormous solar sail/parachute too ...

Of course, it's possible that they can use the same sort of non-Newtonian drive as standard Oolite ships, without the Torus and of course without the capacity to make a wormhole - but if Generation Ship engine flares are proving a pain, they could just be removed altogether.

Alternatively, ignoring the physics: rather than one big engine, maybe the solution would be to go for a whole array of small engines?